Sep 12, 2013

I gave my older Canon digital camera to my son, and so last fall I looked around for a suitable replacement. I picked Samsung's EX2F because it has one very special feature: the brightest lens of any point-and-shoot, an amazing f1.4. That's two f-stops brighter than just about any other digital camera, and nearly three f-stops brighter than Apple's new iPhone 5s.

Another time I might write more about what I liked and disliked about the EX2F.

(Increasing by one f-stop is like doubling the shutter speed; three f-stops allows 9x faster shutter speed und the same lighting conditions. I wish tech sites would trumpet lens size and ignore megapixel counts, which are irrelevant.)

I liked the idea of having the brightest lens available to a point and shoot, because I never use a flash in my photography. Flash makes ugly photographs. Bright lenses are available to digital SLRs; the largest I've read of is f1.1; but even an f1.4 lens is expensive because of the large amount of precisely-polished glass needed.

But even after several firmware upgrades, the rare $500 EX2F became frustrating to me. The big lens meant it was limited to 3x optical zoom, and I love a big zoom! Last month I searched for a relatively compact camera with a long zoom, reasonable price, and preferably Canon brand name.

I found it in the $250 SX500IS, a point-and-shoot with a 30x optical zoom. I've owned several Canon digital cameras since 2001, and so I opened this one up with some preconceived notions of what to expect. I found there were things I hated and others that I loved about it.

hate 3

No USB charging. During day-long conferences when I am taking many pictures, I keep the charge up on my camera and cell phone by plugging them into the USB ports of my notebook computer. Canon doesn't do this; it provides a proprietary battery and an external battery charger. To recharge the battery during a busy shooting day, well, I can't. I had to buy and take along a second proprietary battery ($30) and the external charger -- instead of using a simple USB cable.

Not an external drive. This Canon camera is not seen as an external drive to computers. Instead, the company provides a CD with needed devices drivers and so it works only with Windows and Mac computers; not Linux, et al. Most other cameras appear as an external drive, and so files can be easily copies. The workaround is to pull the memory card each time I need to copy files to a non-Windows/Mac computer.

Other irritants. The box contained no printed manual; it was on the CD. But at the time I bought the camera, I had no computer with a CD drive. The CD contains Canon's software for stitching photos into panoramics, but (a) this software hasn't been updated since the first time I encountered it in 2001, and (b) the camera has no function for taking panoramics.

love 3

Zoom out preview. When I take a photo at 30x zoom (or even at 30x optical * 2 digital = 60x), it can be hard to find my point of interest, because the field of view is t-i-n-y. Canon provides a button on the lens barrel that temporarily changes the zoom back to wide angle so that I can see the full view; the current zoom-in area is shown as a small rectangle, allowing me to position the camera correctly.

F-stop adjust. I ranted earlier about the importance of a bright lens, and this camera has a mediocre f3.0 maximum brightness. But it does have a button to bias the f-stop, a function I have not seen on any other point-and-shoot -- not that I've seen them all. Press the +/- button and then use the dial to make the scene brighter (for backlit images) or darker (for overbright scenes).

Folders by date. All the recent Canon cameras I've owned segregate photos in folders by the shooting date. This is brilliant, and I wish all cameras did this. When on a vacation and taking lots of photos each day, each day's photos are neatly separated. Usually, at the end of the day, I copy the folder onto my computer as backup.

Apr 30, 2013

Over the few months I have owned the EX2F camera, Samsung has issued numerous updates to its software (firmware) that the Cloud function now works. (In the early days, the camera would try to connect repeatedly and unsuccessfully.)

There is, however, one more update Samsung needs to issue: to make the Cloud upload service work with Dropbox. Samsung make some sort of deal with Dropbox, and so I am hopeful this may well show up in the Ex2F.

Right now, the camera's Cloud upload service works only with Microsoft's SkyDrive. The first time I connected, the camera showed a rudimentary Web browser on the screen that reminded me of Web browsing with a Palm Pilot. There I entered the email address and password of my wife's Hotmail account, and told the camera to remember the settings.

The camera then prompts me to select certain photos or to choose to upload all photos. It works pretty well, but with one deal breaking problem: somewhere along the line, the photos are reduced in resolution to a fuzzy 2 megapixels, making them pretty much unusable.

I don't know if the camera does the reducing, or SkyDrive, but it renders the service useless.

TIP A drawback to using WiFi with this camera is that it wears down the battery pretty quickly.

Oct 04, 2011

Google Picasa is great software for processing photographs, but it is painfully slow copying files from digital cameras that have large memory cards. Mine has a 4GB memory card, which is small for today, but can hold 2,000 photos.

When it comes time to get the photos off the camera, Picasa slows to a crawl. The reason is that Picasa checks through all thousand-odd photos to see which ones have already been downloaded. This just takes too long, and I found a faster alternative:

2. When Windows displays the AutoPlay dialog box, choose "Open device to view files with Windows Explorer." (If this dialog box does not open, then open Explorer on your own.)3. The camera appears as a disk drive on your computer. Use Explorer to navigate to the folder containing the photos. In the case of my camera, Canon thoughtfully places each day's pictures in a folder of its own, such as "272Canon" shown below.4. Right-click 272Canon, and then choose Copy from the shortcut menu.

5. In Explorer, go to the Photos folder under Favorites, and then choose Paste.6. Now fire up Picasa, and it within a few seconds it will find the newly added photos.

Jan 19, 2010

As our children are raised in this digital culture, they come across the old analog devices as new and so find them fascinating. My son buy LP records from eBay (local stores overcharge at $40) and one of my daughters is now delighted with film photography (though not with its film and developing costs).

For this daughter the Art Major, it began last summer when she tried using her Oma's old "compact" Canon rangefinder camera, which still had a roll of film in it. I think she liked the challenge of taking a picture well -- yet not knowing how it might turn out until a week or month later -- as well as using a camera different from her friends' digitals.

For Christmas, she got a Holga 120 film camera (with built-in colorized flash), which involved her learning about -- and sourcing -- 120 film.

For her current photograph course at university, she needs a film SLR, and so last night I spent a few hours figuring out her Opa's old Canon T80 camera. This model was produced in 1985 and is famous for being Canon's first with auto-focus -- the lens has a bulky protrusion where the servo motor resides.

The great puzzle about this largely automatic camera is how to set the shutter speed. It turns out that this model was designed to have NO user-adjustable shutter speeds! After some research, however, I found that by putting it into Flowing mode (meant for pictures of race cars and runners), the shutter speed can be changed between B, 1/15, 1/30, 1/60, or 1/125.

Some years ago I had bought an external bounce flash for my Canon G1 digital camera, never used it, and last night tried to get it working with the analog T80. The camera recognized that a flash was attached, but would not fire it. I eventually determined that the plastic hot shoe was a fraction of a millimeter too long, preventing it from seating its pins correctly. I filed a tiny amount off the shoe, and then it worked.

I was pleased to email my daughter that she now had a functioning film SLR with external flash for her class, albeit with a limited number of shutter speeds. As I recall, however, 1/125th of a second was pretty much the standard speed for most photography.

In the meantime, the daughter was excited to tell us that she had been accepted into her school's art magazine, with a photo she took last summer with her Oma's film camera.

Oct 23, 2009

Canon's G1 was my second digital camera, and the first to be what is the norm in today's models: zoom lens, video recording, and so on. (Yah, my first from 1999 did neither.) It was $1200. Ouch!

After it got dunked in the Pacific Ocean (while I was breaking my leg), I got the S1is, and have stuck to it since. I'm on my third S1is, because it has what newer G models lacked: lower resolution and the swivel LCD screen.

That's right: lower resolution makes for better photos, because they are clean -- no interpixel noise. (3 megapixels in the case of the original G1 and S1 models.)

The megapixel race has been as detrimental to consumers as global warming. More megapixels mean more noise, especially when coupled with high ISO modes.

This is why I was glad to read that Canon understands the problem of too many pixels with the new G11 model: it reduces the sensor from 14.7 to 10 megapixels. Their marketing department probably prevented the engineers from going even lower. (Fewer pixels means larger pixels and so less noise.)

Canon remembered to add back the infinitely useful swivel screen. Now, I am just waiting for them to up the digital zoom to 10x, and I'll buy one again. (Current zoom is just 5x.) Well, and they should get the maximum aperture back to f2.0 (from the current f2.8), as well as re-introduce optical zooming during movie mode.

Sep 06, 2009

After my Canon S1is suffered from the sensor problem, I bought a Canon SX100 is as a stop gap. It had the 10x zoom, etc I need. But I continued to keep an eye on a more capable one, especially with movable LCD screen.

A month ago, I made my decision: I bought a reconditioned S1is for $85 -- my third one. It has more features than the SX100is, yet is compatible with add-ons I've bought since I acquired my first S1is in 2004.

I discarded the SX100is (my daughter will take it over) after I found the following flaws in it:

Photostitch mode works only horizontally; it lacks vertical and 2x2 stitch assistance. There is no reason to eliminate the other modes, except for Canon to make this lower-cost camera ($300!) less desirable.

No zoom during movie mode. Here Canon boasts about the high-power Digit generation-whatever processor, and they disable optical zoom for this camera! (Digital zoom is available, but it creates quite an ugly image when dealing with 640x480 movie images.)

So two features I use a lot are handicapped by Canon. Instead of buying a new $450 camera from them, I sent my $85 to an online camera store.

PS: I conacted Canon Canada about the failed sensor, but after a month they have failed to respond. Canon claims to provide free repairs of these units.

May 20, 2009

In the previous posting, I noted that my SX100's 10x zoom is better than the 12x zoom on the new SX200 model.

SX200 -- 12x optical zoom -- 28-336mm equivalent.

SX110 -- 10x optical zoom -- 36-360mm equivalent.

This is a case where the optical zoom number is misleading. The "normal" zoom level is 50mm (when there is no zoom). Divide the mm numbers into 50 to get the zoom multiplier (shown as "x" in specs).

SX200

336/50 = 6.7x zoom

SX110

360/50 = 7.2x zoom

So the SX100 gets you 0.5x closer to distant objects than does the SX200. The sole advantage of the SX200's relatively stunted zoom is that the wideangle is much wider, useful for photographs taken inside rooms or of landscapes.

May 19, 2009

When I bought the Canon SX100 as my next digital camera a month ago, I knew it would be superseded some time this year. I just hoped the new model wouldn't be host to many must-have features. Last week FutureShop began stocking the SX100 (and this week parent BestBuy claims to have it as an "exclusive").

Casting an anxious eye over the specs, I am relieved:

12x optical zoom (28-336 mm equivalent) -- less zoom but more wide angle than the 10x zoom (36-360mm equiv) on the SX100.

12 megapixel -- worse than the 8 megapixels on mine, in my opinion (more pixels means more noise in photographs).

high-definition video recording mode -- the primary feature in this new model, and the primary reason for the $110 price increase. But no biggie in my book. 720p is nice, but I'm content with 640x480.

But then came the deal killer, the reason I am glad I got the SX100 instead: the new model has a maximum aperture of f/3.4 -- significantly smaller than the f/2.8 on the older model. For someone like me who takes flash-less photographs, bigger apertures are crucial.

Apr 11, 2009

One of the benefits of the Internet is that I can read the manual for my new camera before it arrives in the mail.

Canon camera manuals are poorly done, and hard to read. I think that's because they're trying to squeeze all information into 228 half-size pages. Anyhow, I am perusing the PDF file for the SX110 camera, and while most of it is repetitive from other camera models (especially Canons), there are a few new items that intrigue me:

Safety Zoom

In safety zoom mode, the camera balances the maximum digital zoom with resolution to ensure images are not overly grainy:

At max resolutions (9 and 6 megapixel) and widescreen mode, no digital zoom is available.

At inbetween resolutions (2 and 4 megapixel), the max digital zooms are 1.3x and 2.2x, respectively.

I think what's happening is that the SX110 makes use of the entire sensor surface at lower resolutions to magnify the image.

Multi-shot Self Timer

I seem to need to use the self-timer as rarely as once a year, and we all know the procedure: click the shutter, run over to the group, wait for the picture to be taken, and then run back to check if it turned out. Repeat as necessary.

When multi-shot is turned on, the self timer takes ten photos in a row.

Too Many Options

The drawback to digital cameras is that vendors can cram in too many options. One example is the SX110's many anti-shake modes: off, continuous, shot-only, and panning. I tend to use shot-only (anti-shake starts when the shutter is pressed half-way).

ISO

I am interested to see how this camera handles low-light situations, since I have a disdain for flash. I have become quite good at steadying the camera for evening, night, and interior photos with no flash.

Canon claims a max ISO of 1600, plus a simulated ISO 3200, although reviews say that ISO 400 is the max for clean images. Even 400 would be an improvement over my older cameras.

The SX110 has an ISO boost button, which ups the ISO (light sensitivity) in low-light situations. I think I'l find that handy. However, the G10 is even better, for it has a separate dial dedicated to ISO, just like film cameras used to have.

But ISO is not the only spec important to low-light photography; large aperture matters even more. This camera boasts f2.8, which is good for a consumer camera. (My old Canon G1 was f2.0, which let a lot more light come through.)

Modes

I tend to think of shooting modes as features invented by the marketing department. I find the clutter of modes annoying, but there are rare exceptions. The Fireworks mode on my current Samsung NV3 works really well, so we'll see what it's like on the SX110.

Continuous Shooting

The continuous shooting mode is improved over my old S1is with live view. In the old camera, there was a lag in the viewfinder, so it was impossible to keep the camera trained on a moving subject, such as my figure-skating daughter.

Related to this is movie mode, which continues to be weak in Canon cameras. The max resolution is 640x480 -- good enough -- and the largest single movie file is now one hour or 4GB (improved over the S1is). However, Canon still lacks a pause mode, as found in my Samsung NV3.

SDHC

I look forward to seeing how many pictures my 16GB SDHC card holds! Canon estimates 4,000 at the highest resolution and best quality -- and 122,000 at 640x480 and lowest quality.

(I used to own the first 1GB memory card for digital cameras, the 1GB micro hard disk from IBM. The drive broke down after a few years -- and there went $300.)

Custom Folders

As I mentioned earlier, digital cameras have too many features. One that might come in hand is the ability to create folders. When on a trip, it would be handy to segregate photos by folders marked by the date -- the SX110 can create these date-segregated folders automatically.

My very first digital camera had a similar feature: the file name of each picture was today's date, with an increment counter. The first photo taken today would be 90411001 (2009, April, 10, 001). Very handy.

Curiously enough, the SX110 holds a maximum of 2000 photos per folder. I wonder how that number is arrived at.

External Flash

This camera has no hotshoe, but you can buy a screw-on kit that reminds me of cheap film cameras of yesteryear. You screw in a bracket to the camera's tripod socket, and then attach the flash to the other end of the bracket. Usually a cable is required to signal the flash to go off, but there doesn't seem to be one for the SX110 -- maybe the signal is sent through the bracket.

Apr 09, 2009

My beloved Canon S1is went wonky some months ago. I was ready to shoot photos of a contractor-friend's latest project when I noticed the viewfinder was black. Annoyed, I press the Display button several times, but both viewfinder and LCD remained black -- except for a purple smear. The sensor was toast.

(Some Canon models are covered by an unlimited warranty, because Sony did a poor job making some of sensors for Canon. The S1 is not covered by this, unfortunately. Nor is it covered by a credit card extended warranty, for I bought it reconditioned off eBay through PayPal.)

What to replace it with?

Increasingly, I had been using the Samsung NV3, a pocket-size camera with internal zoom lens (nothing pokes out) and excellent video. The drawbacks: hard to see the LCD in bright sunlight, and a mode dial that turned too easily so I never was sure which mode the camera was in when I turned it on.

Canon SX10

I had been eyeing the SX10 from Canon. It has a 20x zoom lens, the swivel LCD that Canon pioneered, and would make use of the big collection of rechargable AA batteries I've collected over the years for my G1 and two S1s.

(Over time, however, I have come to prefer proprietary batteries that charge right inside the camera through the USB cable. Externally charged AAs are a bit of a pain.)

But price was a problem. Over Christmas, Staples had the SX10 camera for $398, but the S1 was still working at that time. (Here in Canada, the SX10 list price is $449.) Recently, FutureShop sold it for $415, but had none in stock locally. ("300 have been ordered for the warehouse," the salesman told me.) Plus, I was greedy: I wanted the price to be under $400.

Canon Raises Prices

Then, a couple of stores raised their prices. Even Wal-mart jumped the price from $426 to $455. The Source (Circuit City in Canada) jumped the price from $440 to $480. While I was in Portland this week, I visited a camera store, where the salesman warned me that Canon was raising prices -- as Nikon already had done. Upon my return, BestBuy Canada had already raised their price from $450 to $480. It mattered not that they offered a 10% discount on all cameras today -- that discount brought the price down to $432, still too high.

I checked eBay for reconditioned units, but the camera is too new for that.

I decided against a digital SLR for two reasons: this class of camera is w-a-y too big and heavy for me, and their zoom lenses have pitiful range against the capability of point'n shooters.

Canon SX110

After seeing the SX10 price increase, I bought the SX110 from FutureShop.ca today. I was torn, for it lacked the 20x zoom and swivel LCD of the SX10. But it had other benefits:

Pocket size, important for all the travel I undertake.

Almost as good a zoom at 10x.

Larger LCD at 3".

And a mere $180 reconditioned ($120 off its regular price of $300).

I'll use it for a while, and then see if Canon comes out with an SX20. I'll sell the SX110 to one of my daughters for half-price.

Dec 22, 2007

I was just reading about a worldwide glut in computer memory causing prices to drop.

I just wrote an entry in my Digital Camera Fan weblog about my mother-in-law wanting a digital camera, and that she would have to pay an extra $25 for a 2GB memory card.

I was in FutureShop yesterday overhearing a customer disappointed at the higher-than-last-week's-advertised price for 2GB SD cards.

And then it all came together: Was FutureShop upping its prices on memory cards during the frantic gift-giving season as a way to increase profits? I was used to 2GB SD cards going as low as $20 these days. Searching the futureshop.ca Web site, the lowest price is now $33, although you can pay $22.50 each if you buy a pair. (Give the other one to a friend.)

Even its price for the 4GB SDHC card, which had been as low as $56, has now shot up to $99. I checked out other electronics dealers, and found that FutureShop had the highest prices in 2 out of 3 cases. In order of lowest to highest prices:

Oct 14, 2006

Over on my "The Digital Camera Fan" weblog, C.C. asked these questions:

Q:I bought Energizer charger yesterday which includes 2pcs of 2000mAh battery. It does not say 'trickle charging'. So does it mean its no use to store the battery in the charger after charging while not in use for my camera?

A: Here's how to tell: after the batteries are fully charged, leave them in the charger for a day, and then feel them. If they feel warm, they are being trickle-charged; if cold, then not.

Q:The manual says 15 hours are needed to charge 2000mAh AA NiMH batteries. so does that mean i have to recharge it another 15 hours when batteries are drained after usage?
A: Yes. Next time, you may want to look for a fast charger, one that recharges in an hour or less. However, these chargers cost quit a bit more than the "overnight" chargers.

Nov 08, 2005

He describes the difficulties using Kodak and HP products with WiFi -- wireless acess to the Internet. This, it appears, is an example of the promise of liberating technology run its course and dropped off the edge of reasonableness.

He found the EasyShare-One (US$600 - steep!) camera was okay for sending photos to Kodak's online photo sharing service, Ofoto, and to printers. (The HP WiFi printer, he found, was terrible setting up for receiving photo files.)

But other than that, WiFi was hopeless:

- low-grade protection means that the connecting WiFi system has to have its WPA protection reduced to WEP. That's the way wireless networks operate: at the lowest common denominator.

- finding a WiFi network in public means entering in passwords, email address, etc using a tiny stylus on the screen.

- doesn't work with most public networks, which also require you to pay to use them.

In Mr Wildstrom's summary, using a cable or docking station is still the easiest and fastest. I can see, however, why camera makers fall for WiFi -- they are desparate to differentiate their products in a market where feature sets are almost identical.

Oct 17, 2005

Since the last post, I found that the DigiGR8 brand of cameras are made by Shuoying, which has a line of digital cameras, MP3 players, multimedia player, USB drives, and so on. They seem to be designed for OEM use, where another company adds their name to the product. Minimum order is 1000 pieces.

Oct 14, 2005

Our local Great Canadian Superstore (a supermarket chain) is carrying a DigiGR8 ("digi-great"?) digital camera for CDN$9.60. I snapped one up. Its made of transparent plastic, so you can see its innards. Size is just 2.25" wide, 1.5" tall, and 0.5" wide. It comes with a keychain, and is small enough for that purpose. (Click the thumbnail image at left.)

There is no preview LCD for seeing the pictures, but there is a small text LCD that reports the current mode and number of photos remaining. Curiously, that LCD is located up front, next to the lens. Heck, it was the price of a USB cable!

The camera has several modes:
1. Delay -- takes a photo ten seconds after shutter is pressed.
2. Continuous -- takes a pictures non-stop until the memory is full or you press the shutter again. I think this creates an AVI "movie" file of the images.
3. How/low rez -- switch between HR (352x288) and LR (176x144) modes.
4. Flourescent mode -- switches between 60Hz and 50Hz.
5. Delete last photo and delete all photos.

There's two pieces of software. One downloads the images; the other turns the camera into a Webcam. Both are fairly crude but work. Interestingly enough, the Webcam software appears to also work with the Snappy Video Snapshot, if you own one of those. (I do, but haven't tried it yet.)